Our SA is a joke. Were laughed at throughout the state.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Student Association presidential candidates debated Friday and agreed on several things that should be implemented within the organization in the coming year.

Robert Grover, Students United for Change candidate, and Carlo Albano, Milwaukee Panther Party candidate who will appear as Independent on the ballot, said the association needs to desperately increase its efforts to reach out to students.

Grover said his party is a party of ideas and outlined a three-pronged plan he would implement if he were elected. He said the association must be transparent for anyone to scrutinize, focus on diversity and access, and develop a safety committee to help increase efforts to keep the campus safe for students.

When were dealing with money, we need to be open, Grover said at the debate, which was sponsored by the Broadcasting Club at UWM.

Albano, on the other hand, said the association must increase its engagement with students and must focus its efforts into tuition. He said tuition this year will increase at five times the rate of inflation.

Higher education is becoming inaccessible, bottom line, he said.

Albano also said the association has had a negative image for the past few years and needs to change that perception with students.

Student orgs are pinnacles of representation, and many of them have encountered situations with the SA in which they could not get straight answers, he said. He stressed the need for town hall forums.

A small group is not representative of the entire body, Grover said.

He said a few people have brought a negative perception to the SA, but the majority of those within SA are positive people.

He also said the SA needs to go on a recruitment drive and that it has gotten away from bigger issues such as tuition.

Grover said the separation of branches within SA is essential. He said that directors in the executive branch were allowed Senate seats primarily because there was no strong University Student Court presence to keep the branches separate.

He said he would set up an ethics committee comprised of students to overlook the entire SA.

Albano said the integration of the branches was not OK and that there have been no checks and balances this year.

Its been one whole institution instead of three separate branches, he said.

The candidates also debated Chapter 17, and the proposal that would allow UWM to punish students for off-campus actions such as parties and drinking.

We cannot be putting students in double jeopardy, Albano said.

He said he would set up a neighborhood committee to look at issues surrounding the behavior of students off-campus.

Its a bad idea to give UWM more power, Grover said.

He said he would keep an open dialogue with neighborhood residents.

Grover said his party has real ideas and urged students to vote for him. He said he may not have all the answers, but he knows where to go to talk to people who do have the answers.

He said Students United for Change is not just a name, thats what we plan to do.

Albano said students should vote for him because he represents a fresh start to student government. He said the association is corrupt.

Our SA is a joke. Were laughed at throughout the state, he said.

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